by Coco Simon
Eddie nodded. “You’ve got yourself a Carlos.”
I was puzzled. “A Carlos?”
“Carlos Sanchez, my college roommate,” Eddie explained. “He was a great guy, and we had a lot of fun together. But he was the worst roommate in the world. He would borrow my clothes, spill stuff on them, and then stuff them back into my drawer. And he always ate my bologna and never replaced it.”
“That is just rude,” I agreed.
“It used to make me furious,” Eddie said. “But the thing is, I still wanted to be his friend. So I just pretended that Carlos the roommate was a different guy. And then I could hang out with Carlos the friend and enjoy myself.”
Eddie’s story was a little unusual, but I had to agree that it made sense. “So I guess I could do the same with Olivia,” I said.
“Exactly,” Eddie said. “Some people are just not meant to be in close quarters together. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be friends. In fact, why don’t you invite her over for dinner one night next week? Your mom and I would like to meet her.”
“Okay,” I replied. I took out my phone and texted Olivia.
Off 2 my dad’s. Do u want 2 have dinner at my house next week?
Yes!!!!!!!!!!!! Monday? Olivia texted back.
“Is Monday okay?” I asked Eddie.
“Sure,” he replied. “I’m pretty sure your mom and I don’t have anything scheduled.”
Monday, I texted back. Ask ur mom if u can ride the bus home with me.
Tx !!!!!!!! Olivia replied.
It made me feel good that she was so happy. In fact, I realized, I had made both Katie and Olivia happy in less than an hour. That’s pretty good, don’t you think?
CHAPTER 8
Sushi . . . and a Surprise
The train ride from Maple Grove to New York City takes more than an hour because of all the stops. It is extremely boring, so I always make sure I have music to listen to and a sketchbook. I know Katie feels sick if she reads or draws in a moving vehicle, but I am very lucky I don’t have that problem. Otherwise, I would probably go insane. Insane on the train. I made a note to tell Katie about that one; she’d probably make up a funny song about it on the spot.
Dad was waiting for me when I got off the train at Penn Station. He always takes my luggage for me, so I don’t have to lug it up the stairs. But first he gives me a superbig hug.
“Mija, you’re getting taller every time I see you!” he said. (Dad likes to call me “mija,” which means “my daughter” in Spanish. It’s pronounced “mee-ha,” so it sounds a lot like my name.)
“Dad, I don’t think I grew in two weeks,” I protested.
“I think you did,” Dad replied. “You are growing so fast!”
Then, like always, we piled into a cab and headed down to Tokyo 16, our favorite sushi restaurant. Besides having the most delicious sushi in the world, the place is beautiful on the inside: dark and calm, with a waterfall along the back wall. It’s like you’ve been transported into another place.
We stuffed my bags against the wall and sat in our usual table by the waterfall. Our server, Yuki, brought us two steaming hot towels, so we could clean our hands. The towels smelled like flowers.
“Good to see you, Yuki,” my dad said.
Yuki is in her twenties and wears her hair in a cute short haircut. She’s very friendly.
“Will you and Mia be having the miso soup today?” she asked.
Dad looked at me, and I nodded. “Mmm, miso.”
A few minutes later we were slurping on steaming bowls of salty soup with green seaweed and tiny cubes of tofu floating in the broth.
“So, what’s on our schedule this weekend, mija?” Dad asked.
“Well, I have to leave early Sunday, because of my soccer game,” I said. “I hope that’s okay.”
“Of course,” Dad said. “Your mom told me. I was thinking I could take the train out with you and see you play.”
“Really?” I asked, and I felt really happy. Dad didn’t used to like coming out to Maple Grove because he felt awkward being around Mom and Eddie. To be honest, it was a little awkward for me, too, to see my mom and dad in the same place, even though they’re not together anymore. But I guess things were less awkward for them because he’s been coming out more often for school events and stuff like that.
Dad misunderstood my response. “Only if you want me to.”
“Definitely! Absolutely!” I told him. “I scored two goals last week.”
Dad smiled. “That’s my girl! I can’t wait to see you play.”
Then Yuki came and took our sushi order (spicy tuna roll and mango roll for me, and a sashimi plate, which has thin slices of raw fish, for Dad). When Yuki left the table, my dad had a serious look on his face.
“Mija, I want to talk to you about something,” he said.
Uh-oh, I thought. My dad hardly ever begins sentences like that. I flashed back to a year before, at this very table, when he told me he had a girlfriend named Alina. And she was just . . . well, awful!
So I must be psychic, because the next words out of his mouth were, “I have a new girlfriend.”
“I knew it!” I cried, and I was probably pretty loud, because I noticed that people were looking at us. “Sorry,” I whispered.
“It’s okay,” Dad said. “I know it didn’t go so well last time. But Lynne isn’t anything like Alina, I promise.”
“I hope not,” I said.
“And I think I made a big mistake the way I handled it last time,” Dad admitted. “I didn’t take your feelings into account. So this time, I’m going to ask you instead of telling you. Would you like to meet her sometime?”
I had to think it over. Sure, I like my stepdad, Eddie, but it took a long time to get used to him. I don’t know if I could handle a stepmom, too.
But I knew Dad was going to date this Lynne person whether I wanted him to or not. And he was asking pretty nicely.
“Okay,” I said hesitantly. “But maybe next visit? I need some time to get used to the idea.”
Dad smiled. “Of course, mija. I have a feeling you will like her.”
Yuki put our plates of food in front of us. I picked up a piece of spicy tuna roll with my chopsticks (I’ve been using them since I was three, so I’m pretty good) and dunked it in soy sauce.
“Mmm, umami,” I said.
“Umami?” Dad asked.
“You know, like in the commercial,” I said. “It’s the way soy sauce tastes. It’s like that extra-special flavor that makes everything taste better.”
“Then you are my umami, Mia,” Dad said. “You will always be my special girl, no matter who else I meet. That’s how life is. We will both always be making new friends. But we’ll always be important to each other. What’s that saying? Make new friends, but keep the old . . . .”
“One is silver and the other gold,” I finished for him, and I felt all shivery. That’s just what I said to Katie on the bus! Freaky, right? I wondered if this was a sign of some kind about Dad’s girlfriend.
“So, what have we got planned for tomorrow?” Dad asked.
I grinned. “I’m meeting Ava, and we’re going window shopping . . . shoe window shopping,” I told him.
After dinner we just headed home for the night. We watched a little television, and then I went to sleep thinking about my wonderful shoes.
The next afternoon, me and my dad and my friend Ava were standing in front of the Kara Karen store. The shop had moved the heels—my heels—to the window.
“Your mom warned me about these,” Dad said. “She said that under no circumstances am I to buy them for you. You’re supposed to be earning half the money yourself.”
I sighed. “I know, Dad,” I said. “I just want to look at them, that’s all.”
Dad glanced across the street. “I’m going to grab a coffee. You girls have fun, okay?”
Ava and I stepped into the store. Ava Monroe is my first best friend, and she’s gorgeous. She has shiny black hair and t
hese beautiful brown eyes, and she’s very petite, which helps make her graceful. We grew up together and played soccer on the same team for years.
“Wow, Mia, they’re even more beautiful in person,” Ava said (because, of course, I had already sent her the photo).
“They’re the shoes of my dreams,” I said with a sigh. “I knew you would understand.”
As I lay in bed that night, my mind was jumbled with thoughts of silver and gold friends. Ava was my oldest friend, so she was gold. Then Katie was my next best friend, so that would make her silver (along with Alexis and Emma, of course). So what was Olivia? Bronze? That didn’t seem right. Bronze didn’t seem so nice; plus, I already told Katie that she was gold.
Maybe Ava was platinum, and Katie and Alexis and Emma were gold, and Olivia was silver. That felt better. Then I thought about what would happen when I made new friends after Olivia, and my thoughts got jumbled up again.
Maybe, I thought, as I drifted off to sleep, it is just nice to have so many friends. Because all of them, in their own way, are supersparkly.
CHAPTER 9
Olivia’s Not-So-Sweet Side
When Katie and I got off the bus on Monday, Olivia was standing on the school steps waiting for me. She had a big grin on her face and looked superexcited.
“Mia, I can’t wait to go to your house today!” she said, and she looked really excited. “It was soooo sweet of you to invite me.”
I was glad that Olivia was so excited, but I was cringing inside, because Katie was right beside me. I probably should have mentioned my plans while Katie and I were on the bus, but I guess there was a part of me that was hoping she didn’t have to know. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.
I glanced at Katie, and she looked okay, so I relaxed a little.
“Well, it was Eddie’s idea,” I said, partly for Katie to hear too. “He and my mom want to meet you.”
“That is soooo sweet,” Olivia repeated, and we all walked inside the school. Katie stopped at her locker, and Olivia and I headed farther down the hall to ours. When I opened the door, a bunch of crumpled papers fell out. I looked at Olivia.
She shrugged. “Oh, I dumped those in there on Friday. That’s what lockers are for, right?”
No, that’s what garbage cans are for, I thought. But I didn’t say it out loud. Olivia was just being a Carlos, and I was going to do what Eddie said and separate locker Olivia from everyday Olivia.
“Well, if you don’t need them, maybe we could throw them out,” I said cheerfully.
“I guess. There’s a garbage right over there,” Olivia said, motioning with her head.
So I picked up the papers and threw them out while Olivia applied her lip gloss in the mirror. As I was walking back, my friends Sophie and Lucy walked by. One of the reasons I like them both is because they have their own unique senses of style. Sophie tends to dress sort of like a hippie, with big hoop earrings, peasant blouses, and long skirts. Today, she was wearing a blue sweater over a tan billowy skirt, and flats.
Sophie and Lucy said hi and kept going. When I got to my locker, I saw that Olivia was staring at them.
“What is up with that skirt?” she asked. “It looks like a tent. She could go camping in it!”
“Hey, Sophie is a friend of mine,” I said. “And I like her look. I think she really pulls it off with her long curly hair and everything. Besides, I think her skirt is pretty.”
Olivia shook her head. “Oh, come on, you wouldn’t be caught dead in that!” she said and then started laughing.
“Well, just because I wouldn’t wear it doesn’t mean it doesn’t look good on Sophie,” I responded, hoping Olivia would understand. But she didn’t.
“Well, if it rains today, we can all take shelter under her skirt,” she said, cracking herself up again.
I was kind of upset with Olivia for saying that about Sophie, but I get that not everyone’s idea about fashion is the same. Also, have you seen those TV shows where people talk about the fashions that celebrities wear? They say nasty things all the time, and everyone thinks it’s funny.
At lunch that day, Olivia kept talking about how excited she was to go to my house. She was full of questions.
“What does your stepbrother look like? Is he cute? How many dogs do you have again? I can’t wait to meet them!”
Katie got superquiet, and I could tell she was mad about the whole thing. But instead of feeling sorry for Katie, I felt kind of angry. I mean, I already told her I was going to be her friend, no matter what. Why couldn’t she just trust me?
Katie and I always walk to social studies together after lunch, but not today. Olivia was distracting me with her questions, and when I looked up, Katie had already left without me.
“See you on the bus!” Olivia said happily, and then she ran off to class. As I walked out of the cafeteria, Alexis stopped me. I think she had been waiting for me by the door.
“Mia, are you cool with what Olivia was doing during lunch?” Alexis asked.
I was puzzled. “What do you mean?”
“The way she was bragging about going to your house, just to make Katie feel bad,” Alexis said.
I shook my head. “She’s just excited. She wasn’t trying to hurt anybody.”
Alexis made a face. “Did you not see her shooting looks at Katie the whole time?”
“She’s not like that, honest,” I said, although a tiny part of me was beginning to wonder about that. “Just give her a chance.”
Alexis glanced at her watch. “We’d better talk later, or we’ll be late for class.”
I was pretty distracted during social studies, thinking about what Alexis had said. I really didn’t believe Olivia would hurt Katie on purpose like that. But then I remembered her mean comment about Sophie. Maybe locker Olivia wasn’t the only one with problems.
I guess I’ll find out later, I thought.
The bus ride home was a little awkward, because Olivia was riding the bus with me and Katie. But I wasn’t about to make Katie angry by leaving our usual seat, so when Olivia came on, I just kind of shrugged, and Olivia found a seat in the back. I turned to Katie and said, “I know you don’t like Olivia, but I really think the more you get to know her, you’ll change your mind. She can be really fun.”
Katie sighed and then said, “I don’t think so, but I hope I change my mind, I really do—I don’t like disagreeing with you about anything, and especially about friends. So let’s talk about something else—I’d rather talk about anything instead of Olivia—even shoes!” We both laughed, and I changed the subject. Katie and I chatted away until she got off the bus, and then Olivia joined me. Soon we got to my stop.
“Ooh, your house is so pretty!” Olivia said as we walked up to it.
I have to admit the house is one of the nicest things about living in the suburbs. It was Eddie and Dan’s house before my mom and I moved in. It’s a white two-story house with a porch in the front and a big lawn that Dan hates to mow.
“Thanks,” I said.
When I opened the door, my two little white Maltese, Tiki and Milkshake, came to greet us. Tiki always pats his little paws on my ankles, and Milkshake does a happy dance and wags her tail.
“Awww, they’re soooo cute!” Olivia said, and she knelt down to pet them. “I have a Chihuahua at home. Maybe they could be friends.”
Then my mom came out of the kitchen. “You must be Olivia,” she said. “Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Vélaz-Cruz,” Olivia said.
Mom smiled. “Actually, it’s Mrs. Valdes now. Confusing, isn’t it? It’s been nearly a year, but I’m still getting used to it myself.”
Then she nodded toward the dining room. “I’ve set up a snack in there for you, so you can do your homework before dinner.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I said, and I motioned for Olivia to follow me. She was frowning.
“Homework?” she asked. “I thought we could, you know, see your room and stuff.”
“Yeah,
well, my mom’s pretty strict about that,” I said. “Homework first, fun later.”
Mom had put out some yogurt cups, fruit, and a pitcher of iced tea for us. I grabbed a mango yogurt and sat back. “We can eat first,” I told Olivia.
Olivia took a strawberry yogurt. “So, I was wondering about those girls in the BFC,” she said. It was the first time she had mentioned them to me. “You know, Callie, Maggie, and Bella. So what’s their deal?”
“Well, last year they were led by this girl, Sydney, but she moved to California,” I said. “They used to be called the Popular Girls Club. Sydney was kind of mean and didn’t let anybody join except for Callie. Now I guess Callie’s kind of in charge. They let girls sit with them sometimes, but I don’t think they have any new members yet. They’re kind of exclusive.”
“What about you?” Olivia asked.
“What do you mean?” I replied.
“Well, you’re like the most stylish girl in the whole school,” Olivia said. “So why aren’t you one of them?”
“Actually, Sydney asked me to join,” I admitted. “But I didn’t want to. I’d rather stay with my real friends in the Cupcake Club.”
Olivia looked impressed. “You know, I don’t understand why the BFC are so high-and-mighty. Maggie’s hair looks like she stuck her finger in a socket. Doesn’t she know she can buy products to fix it?”
“Hey, I thought you were friendly with her!” I said. “Don’t say mean things about her. And, anyway, Maggie’s not so bad.”
“I wasn’t being mean,” Olivia protested. “I just said her hair is horrible. That’s constructive criticism. If you’re trying to be popular, you should have good hair, right?”
I was starting to feel uncomfortable. This was the second time today I had heard Olivia’s “constructive criticism,” but it sounded just plain mean to me.
“It’s just the way you said it,” I told her.
Then Olivia’s eyes got teary. “Oh, Mia, come on. Don’t be like that. I have no one but you to really talk to at school. Don’t be mad.”
“I’m not mad,” I said slowly. And I wasn’t, exactly. But I was starting to think that everyday Olivia was just as bad as locker Olivia, and I wasn’t sure what to do about that.
